The G.A.W took place in Georgia, us on 23rd and 24th April. It involved 47 players vying to be crowned champion in a 5 game tournament.

Before I jump into the Top Three, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.

1st Place – Brandon Voss

Brandon won all five games over the weekend. Along the way he beat Seraphon/Thunder Lizard in round 1, Ironjawz/Bloodtoofs in round 2, Stormcast Eternals/Hammers of Sigmar in round 3, Sons of Behemat/Breaker Tribe in round 4 and Maggotkin of Nurgle/Befouling Host in Round 5.

Army Faction: Maggotkin of Nurgle
– Subfaction: Drowned Men
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumph: Bloodthirsty

LEADERS
Bloab Rotspawned (300)*
– Spells: Gift of Disease
Lord of Afflictions (210)*
– General
– Command Traits: Overpowering Stench
– Artefacts of Power: The Splithorn Helm
Lord of Afflictions (210)*

BATTLELINE
Pusgoyle Blightlords (440)*
– Reinforced: Once
Putrid Blightkings (250)*
Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)*
Putrid Blightkings (250)*

OTHER
Nurglings (105)*

CORE BATTALIONS
– *Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: 1985/2000

Danny: Nurgle as Drowned Men are on a tear and it’s not hard to see why. Amazing pre-game move gives incredibly durable board control. Blighkings and flies tank most threats in the game – and the Pusgoyles are mobile enough to reach out and tag the stuff they don’t want going places.

There are a few small variations on the theme – it’s a deep book where it’s hard to screw up a list- such as the cute and fluffy inclusion of everyone bar none’s favourite cavorting critters in the game, Nurglings.

Some variation of this list is the one to beat these days – it’ll be super interesting to see whether the forthcoming floaty Nighthaunt swarms who they can’t pin down easily, or the sheer glass cannons of DoK can hang – but for now, weirdly fast, high pressure Nurgle is the meta to plan for.

2nd Place – Dalton Kahle

Dalton managed four wins over the two days. Beating Stormcast Eternals/Hammers of Sigmar in round 1, losing against Daughters of Khaine/Khelt Nar in round 2. Then going on to beat Legion of the First Prince in round 3, Soulblight Gravelords/Vyrkos Dynasty in round 4 and Sons of Behemat/Breaker Tribe in the final round.

Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch
– Army Subfaction: Hosts Arcanum
– Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery

LEADER
Kairos Fateweaver (435)*
– Spells: Bolt of Tzeentch
Changecaster (135)*
– Staff of Change and Arcane Tome
– Artefacts: The Fanged Circlet
– Spells: Unchecked Mutation
Lord of Change (420)**
– Staff of Tzeentch and Baleful Sword
– Spells: Tzeentch’s Firestorm
The Blue Scribes (135)**
– Spells: Treason of Tzeentch
Magister (125)**
– General
– Command Traits: Spell Hunters
– Spells: Arcane Suggestion

BATTLELINE
Kairic Acolytes (115)*
– Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield
Kairic Acolytes (115)*
– Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield
Horrors of Tzeentch (Pink) (250)**
Kairic Acolytes (115)**
– Cursed Blade and Arcanite Shield

ENDLESS SPELL
Chronomantic Cogs (45)
Umbral Spellportal (70)
Prismatic Palisade (40)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment
**Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS (2000/2000)

Danny: Interesting to see mono-Tzeentch representing again after their friendship with Archaon was forcibly ended. Tzeentch still have great tools – and it’s good to see this list including their kairic mortals instead of defaulting to horror spam.

Gestalt Sorcery puts Acolytes on a 4/3/-1 shooting attack with 18” range, which is not nothing, and enables them to chip stuff down while the rest of the list’s brutal wizardry turns your dice rolls to crap, your toys into spawn, and the Blue Scribes turn your spells into their spells.

3rd Place – Tommy Miklos

Tommy also finished the weekend with one loss and four wins. His path saw him beat Soulblight Gravelords/Vyrkos Dynasty in round 1, Legion of the First Prince in round 2, Daughters of Khaine/Khelt Nar in round 3. He then lost against Maggotkin of Nurgle/Befouling Host in round 4 before beating Fyreslayers/Greyfyrd in round 5.

Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes
– Army Subfaction: Boulderhead
– Grand Strategy: Beast Master
– Triumphs: Inspired

LEADER
Frostlord on Stonehorn (430)
– Artefacts: Alvagr Rune-tokens
– Mount Traits: Metalcruncher
Huskard on Stonehorn (340)
– Blood Vulture
– Artefacts: Brand of the Svard
– Mount Traits: Frosthoof Bull
Icebrow Hunter (125)*
– General
– Command Traits: Lord of Beasts
Butcher (135)*
– Tenderiser
– Spells: Molten Entrails
Frostlord on Stonehorn (430)*
– Mount Traits: Black Clatterhorn

BATTLELINE
Stonehorn Beastriders (320)
– Blood Vulture
Frost Sabres (55)*
Frost Sabres (55)*

ENDLESS SPELL
Emerald Lifeswarm (60)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Warlord

TOTAL POINTS (1950/2000)

Danny: Mawtribes don’t have too many competitive options left outside of their big angry cows and a few smaller tech pieces – for now – but it takes GUTS (fittingly) to stay pure and avoid Big Krag for their 3d6 charge based mortals.

Impressive to go 4-1 at the best of time – and interesting to see a lone Butcher as a little tech piece in there – he’s the Ogor version of a Wurrgog, capable of spiking MWs like crazy and Molten Entrails is a nice little +1 damage spell to throw on the big cow you REALLY need to chomp with that turn. Underestimate at your own risk!

Wildcard – Michael Schlegelmilch

Michael also won four games and lost one, ending the weekend in 7th. Along the way he beat Cities of Sigmar/Living City in round 1, then beat Maggotkin of Nurgle/Blessed Sons in round 2, Flesh-eater Courts/Gristlegore in round 3 and Beasts of Chaos/Gavespawn in round 4. He then lost in round 5 to 3rd placed Tommy Miklos and his Ogor Mawtribes/Boulderhead list.

Allegiance: Fyreslayers
– Lodge: Greyfyrd
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

Leaders
Auric Runefather (125)
– General
– Command Trait: Spirit of Grimnir
– Artefact: Axe of Grimnir
Battlesmith (150)**
– Artefact: Nulsidian Icon
Auric Runemaster (125)**
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist
– Universal Prayer Scripture: Heal
Auric Runeson (80)**
– Ancestral War-axe
– Artefact: Draught of Magmalt Ale

Battleline
15 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (480)*
– Broadaxes
– Reinforced x 2
15 x Hearthguard Berzerkers (480)*
– Poleaxes
– Reinforced x 2
10 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Bladed Slingshields (160)**

Units
2 x Stormdrake Guard (340)*
– Drakerider’s Warblade
– Allies

Endless Spells & Invocations
Zharrgron Flame-spitter (55)

Core Battalions
*Hunters of the Heartlands
**Warlord

Additional Enhancements
Artefact

Total: 1995 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 340 / 400
Wounds: 120
Drops: 8

Danny: The new Fyreslayers book is clearly an improvement on their old, but on first glance it’s not given them as competitive a spike as other newer books. Still, they’re now a reliably tanky army with quite a few shenanigans.

This list is a fairly standard core – with 2 huge blobs of heavy hitting Hearthguard (giving one blob a different weapon option allows a little versatility as Poleaxes are much better into things with good saves thanks to their MW potential).

The Nulsidian icon is a clutch artifact which will catch a lot of people unawares, as it can shut down your spellcasting for an entire turn.

The somewhat inevitable ‘twist’ to this list is 2 Stormdrake Guard – if you don’t know what they do by now, I kinda envy the cave you’re living in – it’s a shame FS don’t have enough threat projection in their own book to avoid leaning on them but hey, all’s fair in love and tournaments!

Final Tournament Placings (Top 20)